One advantage of electronic display systems is the capability to display an image in a variety of formats and sizes. There is particular interest in providing large scale displays, visible to thousands of viewers over considerable distance, such as would be useful for entertainment and advertising. One known method for providing large scale electronic displays is tiling, in which a matrix of smaller displays are linked together to form a larger display surface.
Image-forming devices such as LCDs, matrixed LEDs, Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs), and PLEDs provide a two dimensional image in pixel form, with pixels familiarly arranged in rows and columns. A recognized problem for displays using these components relates to inherent dimensional limitations of the electronic image-forming components themselves. Size and packaging requirements for these devices constrain their use in large-scale display applications, requiring special methods and techniques for image enlargement and tiling.
It has been recognized that optical fibers afford one means for enlarging an electronically generated image in order to display the image in a larger format, such as for tiling applications. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,016 B1 issued Feb. 27, 2001 to Shankle et al. discloses an enlarged display using images provided from conventional transparencies, visibly enlarged by means of fiber optic light guides, each fiber painstakingly routed from the image forming device to a display panel. Similarly U.S. Pat. No. 6,418,254 B1 issued Jul. 9, 2002 to Shikata et al. discloses a fiber optic display coupled with an image projector. U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,703 B1 issued Oct. 16, 2001 to Lowry discloses a tiling implementation using bundles of optical fibers routed from image-forming components to a display apparatus.
As an alternative to routing individual fibers, symmetrically fixed groupings of optical fibers are preferred. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,315 issued Nov. 7, 1995 to Sakai et al. discloses a tiled display employing LCD devices, with images tiled on a display surface using a fiber optic faceplate. Fiber optic faceplates have also been disclosed for use in a number of other applications, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,034 issued Nov. 5, 1996 to Karellas which discloses tiling using fiber optic faceplates in an X-ray imaging apparatus and U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,294 issued Mar. 25, 1997 to Castonguay which discloses use of a tapered fiber optic faceplate in light-sensing instrumentation.
Fiber optic faceplates that are commercially available are well suited for many types of image-sensing and instrumentation purposes. However, the overall requirements for using fiber optic faceplates as optical converters for electronic image display are more demanding, particularly when used with LCD, LED, OLED, or PLED devices. In such a case, it is important to have precise positioning of optical fibers at the input and output sides of a fiber optic faceplate. That is, each pixel at the image-forming device has a corresponding fiber light guide within the fiber optic faceplate that directs light from that pixel to the output display surface. This requirement necessitates custom design of a fiber optic faceplate for the geometry of the image forming device itself (such as for an OLED, for example) and for the geometry of the display surface. It can be appreciated that tiling arrangements introduce even more complexity into the faceplate fabrication problem. As a result, fiber optic faceplates suitable for electronic image display continue to be costly and difficult to fabricate. Solutions for fiber optic faceplate fabrication, such as those disclosed in PCT International Application WO 02/39155 A2 by Cryan et al., published May 16, 2002 can be highly dependent on accurate dimensions of the optical fiber or of interstitial fillers used to provide a precise spacing between fibers.
One prior art approach for providing accurate positioning of optical fibers in a fiber bundle is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,578 issued Nov. 2, 1976 to Hashimoto, hereinafter termed the '578 patent. In the method of the '578 patent, directed to the manufacture of fiberscope apparatus, optical fiber is wound around a mandrel and aligned in guide frames to obtain precise positioning. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,812 issued Aug. 17, 1999 to Hilton, Sr., hereinafter termed the '812 patent, a multilayer fiber optic bundle is fabricated by winding a fiber optic strand around a drum, within a plastic channel. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,033,731 issued May 8, 1962 to Cole, hereinafter termed the '731 patent, fiber is wound about a mandrel to form rows, which can then be combined to build up a fiber structure. Thus, it can be seen that a drum or mandrel, properly dimensioned, can be a suitable apparatus for positional arrangement of optical fibers in a bundle. However, neither the '578, '812, nor '731 patents provide a suitable solution for optical fiber faceplate fabrication. The methods used in the above-mentioned patents position fibers adjacently, so that the dimensions of the fiber itself determine center-to-center spacing of the fiber bundle. However, such methods are highly dependent on the uniformity of fiber dimensions. In actual practice, however, the actual dimensions of optical fiber can vary widely, even for the same type of fiber. Additional tolerance error is due to winding tension differences as the fiber strands are wound about the drum. More significantly, however, the methods of the '578, '812, and '731 patents do not provide a way to vary the center-to-center spacings between fibers, both at input and at output ends of the fiber bundle. As is noted earlier, the capability for varying the center-to-center spacing between fibers, lacking with the methods of the 578, '812, and '731 patents, is of paramount importance for display imaging applications.
In an attempt to meet the requirements for variable center-to-center spacing, U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,927 issued Dec. 27, 1994 to Chin et al., hereinafter termed the '927 patent, discloses the use of pairs of axially disposed spacer bars. The use of spacer bars allows a fiber optic bundle to have different fiber spacing at input and output ends. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,201 issued Dec. 27, 1994 to Kingstone, hereinafter termed the '201 patent, discloses the use of spacer guides in a rotating drum application for output fiber spacing, where the output spacer guides, added as each layer of fiber is formed, become part of the completed fiber bundle assembly.
While the '927 and '201 disclosures suggest helpful fabrication techniques for fiber optic couplers, there is felt to be considerable room for improvement. In particular, neither the '927 nor the '201 disclosure are well suited to the requirements for accurate, high-speed, and inexpensive fabrication of fiber optic faceplates used for electronic display imaging. With respect to both '927 and '201 disclosures, curvature effects of the rotating drum constrain the attainable size of a fiber optic faceplate built up in this way. Continuous feeding of optical fiber is necessary, which suggests a substantial amount of waste with the '927 and '201 methods. The method of the '201 disclosure relies heavily on precision manufacture of grooved spacer components, incorporated into the body of the fiber faceplate itself, used to define the spacing of each output row and to set the spacing between rows. Moreover, new spacers are required to be accurately positioned as each row of fibers is wound. This adds cost and complexity to the fabrication process.
Overall, it can be seen that there is a need for improved methods for fabrication of fiber optic faceplates, particularly for electronic imaging applications.